Abstract photo

Here's an example of why I usually don't try to explain photos to people; I just show them. When you think 'photo of a jersey barrier on the freeway' it sounds pretty lame. But I think this turned out better than lame...possibly even good...? Dunno, but it's unique anyways...

Be sure to click on the photo to see it large.

Some crazy photoshop work

I never mess with photos in photoshop in unethical ways...I only tone them slightly and crop...but here's a random flyer that I made when I was bored a while back...thought I'd play with those parts of photoshop that I never get to use...

Looking at it now it's a little too 'military' for my taste anymore...but at the time that's the style I was going for...cuz you know, now I'm into the whole 'not bombing people' style...

Some random photos

These haven't seen the light of day...what do you think of 'em? The last two - I can't tell which one is better, bird or no bird.

Seattle Marathon

This was a fun shoot, although the picture above is one of the only actually creative shots I was able to take. I mostly just sat in a camping chair, sipping some hot tea and shooting hundreds of close-up mug shots of the runners. Then they get to buy prints of them if they want. Before the the race began, I shot some of the runners warming up in the near freezing air at like 6:30am. I hate getting up this early but once I'm up, I'm always happy and there are always good pictures to be made. This seems to always be true...maybe that's only because I'm never up that early so early morning time just seems to hold more wonder for me...I'm just seeing early morning stuff that I don't usually see...It's like traveling somewhere that you usually don't go. It's always good to change up the routine and find something new. For me, that's what photography is all about.

Pendleton Round-Up

Nothing says 'America' like going to the rodeo, and the finals of the Pendleton Round-Up is the place to be if you want to see some good rodeo action. I had a great time meeting some really nice folks last weekend in Pendleton, Oregon and I went home with some photos that I am very happy with. Take a look by clicking here.

Another Story in The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Check out today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer front page for a photo of mine:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/frontpage/SPI-20070901-A-001.pdf

Hempfest Seattle

Why do so many thousands of people go to Hempfest? Who are they and what do they do there? Watch this 3 minute multimedia piece, made by yours truly, and find out.

Rat City Rollergirls Multimedia Piece

Follow this link to watch a slide show with audio and interviews from the most recent roller derby bout...

You'll see a lot more photos that you didn't see in the story that ran in The Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Friday (see previous post).

Rat City Rollergirls

I shot a story that ran in The Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Friday, August 17 with some fun pictures. They gave it a huge space on the front and back of the sports page, with a teaser photo on page one of the paper as well.

Click here to see the story on the P-I website



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Photo(s) of the day

This one is from my vault of archives (Feb 07). Photographer for La Nacion (Buenos Aires) Hernan Zenteno, peering out the back of a train from the conductor's area, looking for relevant things to shoot. The assignment was on slums and squatters' shacks becoming too close to the train tracks.

Bilal Hussein

AP photographer Bilal Hussein has been imprisoned by the U.S. military, with no charges brought against him, since April of last year. The AP, along with Pullitzer-winning journalists have been very active in the fight to get him free...

http://freebilal.org/english.htm


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Picture of the day

It's abstract...I usually don't get to shoot that way when shooting as a photojournalist...my style used to be very abstract, and I'd like to go back and develop that some more...

I wonder if many editors would run this photo...perhaps as a part of a larger picture story. This was the very last shot I took out of about a thousand during a 3 day backpacking trip I took with my girlfriend. This is her walking up the stairs as we arrive back at my apartment...

Picture of the day

Here's a photo I just shot. Hungry? Mmm...healthy. It's romaine lettuce.

Rampart Ridge Hike

Visit this hidden gallery on my site to view some images from our hike to Rampart Ridge in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, WA this week. It was a little rainy, but still beautiful...allowing for some nice shots of the foliage covered in water droplets...

It's wedding season

I shot Paul and Selina's wedding last weekend...check out some of the pics at http://ryderpictures.com/wedding/wedding.htm or click on the pic below...It was on the 17th floor of the WaMu Center in downtown Seattle...a truly amazing venue with like a huge grassy meadow landscaped out there on the patio.

The big chance

This doesn't ever happen - I read on aphotoaday.org that the VII Photo Agency is soliciting new members. Read the story from Photo District News. The folks at VII are some of the best in the world. I wonder if I'm ready to submit a portfolio yet...




I do have another big chance however; this one is more realistic. I interview on Monday for the position of 'photo and illustration editor' at the quarterly, Communities Magazine. They're all about developing communities in responsible and healthy ways. This will be a nice return to my editing responsibilities at The Univ of WA Daily last year...just looking a pictures and shooting some when needed - can't complain about that kind of job.

Jumping Pictures

Here's a funny shot, made with help from my sister behind the camera. We went to the park to take a family portrait for mother's day...and then have a few beers with my friends and do some good ol' fashioned jumping pictures. That's me on the right in case you don't know.

A New Website

See photos from my U.S. road trip and more at my brand new site -

http://www.ryderpictures.com

I've finally returned home after 4 months and more than 14,000 miles driven. I ended up with two speeding tickets, but no wrecks and no break downs. I ought to do an ad for Saturn, huh?

Since I last wrote, we drove along the Gulf Coast, while stopping for extended stays in Mobile, Alabama and New Orleans, Louisiana. Let me tell you that the Big Easy ain't lookin too good.

It's overwhelming and depressing to see post-Katrina New Orleans, and to learn about the failures in relief efforts. I was there 15 months after the storm hit, and it really seemed like it had hit just the day before. The Ninth Ward was desolate and void of human life. I have a selection of photos from New Orleans that I felt were particularly moving, available here.

We drove through Texas, which is just way too big, and made our way to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. Weird name, I know. But great hot springs there, and cheap - the town's name actually used to be Hot Springs.

After that was the world's second largest hot air balloon festival in Gallup, NM, followed by a couple days in Vegas. After that we pretty much high-tailed it home because it was so damn cold (6 degrees Farenheit in Gallup); plus, we kinda did miss home.

So here I am, home in Kirkland, WA.
Go look at my new site! Again, it's http://www.ryderpictures.com It's great!

Peace,
Dave

Sunny (Thunderstormy) Florida

NEW PICS -- http://www.sportsshooter.com/dryder/usaweek8

Old pics -- http://www.sportsshooter.com/dryder/usaweek6
http://www.sportsshooter.com/dryder/usaweek4
http://www.sportsshooter.com/dryder/usaweek2
http://www.sportsshooter.com/dryder/usaweek1

"Flaahda" That's where I actually am. Though it doesn't feel like it right now. Sometimes I hear an accent like that, and I also feel the humid, hot weather. Then I know I'm here. Then (right now) it's gloomy, rainy, and just like home. Where people talk normal, recycle, and eat granola.

It's very off and on, that whole recycling thing. But I did finally see someone else in Winn Dixie with granola in their shopping cart.

We're camping right by the Everlglades, about 30 min from Miami, in a town I embarassingly don't know what to call. And I've been here for like 4 nights. It's funny too because I've been talking constantly of finding work, or a campground where I could work to pay for my site, and the opportunity just arose. I just didn't feel like doing any roofing yesterday. It was hot, I was tired, and so I swam and lay by the pool instead.

Then I did some more lounging, just to keep it consistent, you know. You can't just lounge for two-and-a-half days, then just start roofing all of a sudden. Better just keep it simple, 'stay the course' if you will - as Dubya would tell me. Then again appartently we've "never been 'stay the course,'" as he declared on national TV a couple of days ago. Well, then I have never been lounging this much ever before, either.

Whether or not our president is a liar, or we're fighting an illegal war that costs tens of thousands of lives and billions of dollars...I can at least admit I have lied before, too. I really have been this lazy and comfortable, and will 'stay the course' by the pool this afternoon. If the sun will ever come back. I do admit, also, to being constantly irritated in this state that's governed by Jeb Bush.

You may know my background, and yes I'm liberal. That might be an understatement to some of you, to whom liberal just means radical and argumentative. So I'll continue to write with a smile, knowing that you disagree about my opinions on Cuba. But hey, I lived there, so whadda you got?

But seriously, The Miami Herald is like a White House propaganda organ spewing out garbage in its seemingly daily anti-Cuba articles. They might as well just change the international section to the 'Today's Reasons Why Castro Should Burn in Hell (As soon as that old bastard will finally just die!) section.' I'm serious, though, and Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales (leaders of Venezuela and Bolivia, respectively) have been in that same 'Burn in Hell' section every day so far.

I'll tell you right now that I did come to the South to get a taste of some culture that's foreign to me. You're right if you tell me I shouldn't expect anything else - 'cause yeah, I guess I came here for this. I guess I'm just lucky I'm a white man who's looking to see why folks can be so ignorant down here. It could be much more uncomfortable; I ain't denying my privilege.

The radio stations are just as bad, and it makes me wonder how amazingly powerful anti-Castro Cubans are around here. And you can exchange the word 'Cubans' with 'money' in that last sentence. That lobby is so very strong in Washington, D.C., too; you can bet on that. Jeb's yapping in George's ear, because Jeb's hearing it in his ear every day (and feeling it in his campaign contributions) . It's not like it's top secret or anything.

Last night on 98.3 FM (a popular Spanish language channel) an artist made the official announcement that, due to overwhelming pressure, he is willing to destroy one of his masterpieces on the behalf of the exile community. He's gonna incinerate his sculpture of Castro's head. Pretty ridiculous in my opinion.

It's not like he's erecting a Saddam Hussein statue on 1600 Pennsylvania, D.C. It's Castro, people, come on.

Let me try to clarify something. Rich folks own mass media outlets, which greatly inform public opinion. With the case of Cuba, the news media have always told us one certain thing. After a while, like my whole lifetime, I took that thing for granted to be fact. Truth is, I did't really know at all. Republican or Democrat, or whoever you are, you can't really disagree. But I do now understand both sides of this argument.

So, examine the case of a country which we are not allowed to enter. They welcome us, but the State Department says it's a big No-No. Why is it illegal? It must be for our own safety, right? After all, Mr. Bush tells me that Cuba is in the (cue scary music) *Axis of Evil*

That's not a joke, Bush honestly grouped Cuba in with Kim Jong-il's North Korea and Hussein's Iraq.

Well I went to Cuba and, oh Jesus, I came back alive! Truth is, there's just got to be some things that those folks in Washington just don't want us to understand. Come on, am I just crazy?

Savannah, GA

New pics: http://www.sportsshooter.com/dryder/usaweek6

Old pics: http://www.sportsshooter.com/dryder/usaweek4
http://www.sportsshooter.com/dryder/usaweek2
http://www.sportsshooter.com/dryder/usaweek1


Here I sit, under the stars and gazing at the river in Savannah, Georgia. And I'm checking my email. I'll make this a quick blurb so I don't miss anything cool. You see, I usually update from a boring library or the passenger seat of my Saturn. This place is different.

Georgia is my favorite state so far. We kind of blew through Atlanta and found ourselves in Savannah last night (coming from Nashville). I love everything about Georgia, and especially Savannah, and I haven't even sampled any of their famous peaches.

It reaaaally feels like the South now. There's Spanish Moss hanging from so many trees, and leaving the state park today (our home for the next week or so) felt like a tour through an old horror movie. Imagine a dark road lined with scraggly gray trees dripping sea-green moss from every branch.

More to come later...just look at this week's pictures. Most are from Kentucky, where we checked out a lot of horse stuff. Very cool horse stuff - just look at the pictures and you'll see!